Brick grinding machine



G. H. BRAUSAM BRICK GRINDING MACHINE Aug. 20, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 2, 1956 In 0972507 George ]2. Bras/s am eitzorweys @Parfier g C'arzer Aug. 20, 1957 e. H. BRAUSAM BRICK GRINDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 2, 1956 5 a w 2 a a m S n! f 5 4 W w Mr Ur E M 0% 1% W e m w PM .fi a 4 United States Patent BRICK GRINDING MACHINE George H. Brausam, South Beloit, Ill., assignor to Besly- Wells Corporation, Beloit, Wis., a corporation of Illinois Application October 2', 1956, Serial No..613,563

. 2 Claims. (Cl. 51-273) This invention relates to improvements in grinding machines especially adapted for building blocks and the like and has for its present object to provide an improved form and arrangement of exhaust means for dust. and particles produced in such machines.

More particularly, the invention relates to double horizontal disc grinding machines for building blocks or the like, in which the workpieces are passed horizontally by a conveyor between two opposed abrasive discs so as to grind parallel surfaces on opposite sides of the workpieces.

It is common practice with conventional grinding machines, when used for metallic workpieces, to provide a collecting hood surrounding the grinding discs arranged to deposit the metallic fines and particles produced during the grinding operation in an enclosed compartment in the base of the grinding machine, which compartment has suitable exhaust ducts opening from the sides thereof for drawing out such fines and particles from the compartment either in a liquid coolant, or by air suction. It has been found, however, that when grinding machines of the same general character are used for grinding building blocks, such as those made of concrete, light weight aggregate, fire brick, or the like, the problem of disposing of the dust and particles is much more serious than with grinding machines operating on metal workpieces because such workpieces are preferably ground dry; considerably more material is removed from the workpieces in the form of heavy particles mixed with fine dust which is much more diflicult to remove by conventional dryexhaust arrangements, and much of the dust is of such light character that it tends to escape from the machine into the surrounding air and become a serious working hazard to the machine operators.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel form of dry dust-receiving hopper incorporated in the base of a grinding machine, wherein the bottom of which hopper is provided with a downwardly opening exhaust outlet and the side walls of said hopper are tapered downwardly to direct the particles and dust, in part by gravity, into the air exhaust opening of the hopper.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved form and arrangement of auxiliary air inlets around the upper portion of the hopper to aid in clearing the dust and heavier particles which would otherwise tend to accumulate on adjacent tapered walls of the hopper, and direct such dust and particles into the air exhaust opening.

The invention may best be understood by the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a building block grinding machine constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is an end view of the machine showing the exhaust hopper in the base of said machine;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side view of the machine also showing the exhaust hopper in the base thereof; and

2,833,399 Patented Aug. 20, 1957 Figure 4 is an enlarged detail section showing the air inlet along opposite edges of the hopper.

Referring now to details of the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates generally a grinding'machine having a base 11 on which is mounted two longitudinally spaced quill housings 12, 12 which support, as usual, opposed grinding discs (not shown) rotatable on longitudinal axes so as to grind opposite sides of workpieces which are passed horizontally along a conveyor frame 13 between said discs.

The machine is especially adapted for grinding. building blocks A, A which in the illustrative form shown are conventional hollow molded concrete blocks. These blocks are moved in endwise alignment along the conveyor frame 13 by spaced lugs 14 carried on a conventional endless conveyor or chain (not shown) housed in the conveyor frame 13. The blocks move along the top of the conveyor frame and enter an opening 15in a hood 16 which encloses the two grinding'discs. Adjustable plates 17 may also be mounted on opposite sides of the conveyor frame 13 to guide the blocks into said opening. The general construction and arrangement of parts so far described is more or less conventional in horizontal opposed disc guiding machines, so further details need not be described, excepting to point out the novel features which comprise the present invention.

The hood 16 is hollow as usual and extends downwardly to a central portion of the base 11, so as to contain the particles or fines removed from the workpieces during grinding. In machines of the prior art, the hood 16 is usually closed at its bottom by a generally horizontal pan, and in most instances the particles or fines are moved, either in a liquid coolant or by air suction through exhaust ducts passing laterally from the base of the hood from one or more sides of the latter.

In the machine of the present invention, the central portion 20 of the base on which the hood 16 is supported has a hopper 21 with relatively steeply sloped side walls 22, 22 and end walls 23, 23 terminating in a central exhaust opening 34 in the bottom of the central base portion 20. As seen in Figures 2 and 3, it will be seen that the upper edges of the sloping end walls 22 project outwardly beyond the adjacent upright end walls 25 of the hood 16, and are spaced at 27 from the latter upright walls to form elongated slots for the entrance of air along the upper edges of the sloping hopper Walls 23. Similarly, the sloping side walls of the hopper project outwardly beyond the adjacent upright side walls 26 of said hood to form elongated air slots 28 along the upper edges of said sloping hopper walls 23.

The lower walls of the hood 16 are suitably supported in spaced relation from the upper edges of the hopper as by a plurality of bolts 30, 30 threaded in ribs 31 extending outwardly from the side walls 26 of said hood, and with the lower ends of said bolts seated on the upper edges of the hopper, as seen in Figure 2. Also, the lower edge of the side walls 26 of the hood may be sloped inwardly at 26a to aid in directing the incoming air along the adjacent sloped inner faces of the hopper walls 23. The exhaust opening 34 of the hopper, which opens the bottom of the base portion 20, communicates with a downwardly extending air exhaust duct 35 leading to a separator (not shown).

The use and operation is as follows:

The upper edges of the funnel-like hopper in the base portion 20 spans the entire horizontal area of the lower edges of the upright walls of the hood 16, so that said hopper is in position to receive all of the particles or fines resulting from the grinding operation, which tend to be drawn into said hopper by air, and are discharged,

L0 in part by gravity, directly through the exhaust opening 34 at the bottom of the hopper. The discharge of dust and heavier particles which might otherwise tend to become deposited on the sloping walls of the hopper, is

.aided by the air injected through the auxiliary airslots 27 and 28 along the upper edges of the hopper.

It has been demonstrated in practice, that the improved form and arrangement of the funnel-like hopper of the present invention makes it possible to exhaust the extremely large amount of dust particles and fines which result from the dry grinding of building blocks and the like, as compared to the grinding of metallic workpieces, without the hazard to workmen from dust escaping into the surrounding air. Although I have shown and described a certain embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact construction shown and described herein, but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a grinding machine of the character described, a frame having a base, abrasive means mounted on said base, a hood surrounding said abrasive means, conveyor means for passing workpieces through said hood and across said abrasive means and a dust receiving hopper disposed in said base in open communication below said hood, said hopper being funnel shaped, with an exhaust opening passing downwardly through said base for communication with an air exhaust duct, and the adjacent edges of the hood and hopper being spaced apart to form auxiliary slots for entrance of air along the upper edges of the hopper.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein the lower edge of the hood has inwardly flared deflecting portions to direct the incoming air downwardly along the inner sloped side walls of the hopper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 787,340, Mid dleton- Apr. 11, 1905 1,188,328 'Searpitto June 20, 1916 1,218,652 Hauser et a1 Mar. 13, 1917 1,374,075 Graham Apr. 5, 1921 1,797,261 Hallam Mar. 24, 1931 2,766,561 Carlson Oct. 16, 1956 

